Casual danger

We’ve talked before about how I’ve finally gotten my head around this “messy” dressing that people today call casual. Shorts that are just a bunch of pockets with leg holes; shirts that flap around outside the waistband; shoes that flop around…eh, no, still not comfortable with those.

Now, some of these are cool. That whole shirt thing still has people thinking I’m thin. But there’s an incipient danger to becoming comfortable with casual clothes…a danger one can describe in a single phrase: “Wash and Wear”.

I used to dry clean most of my clothes when I was still part of Corporate America. I even ironed my casual clothes back then, since one never knew when a “business casual” day would require me dressing down. Nowadays, it’s all dressing down.

So the clothes go from the washer to the dryer to the dresser (or hangers; I still use hangers for the shirts). And sometimes they don’t even get that quickly from dryer to dresser.

Ironing? Heh. Here’s my current ironing: if the clothes are still warm from the dryer, I smooth them out on my bed. If they’re not warm from the dryer…oh well, it’s not like I’m modeling.

Yeah, it’s a long fall from neatly pressed and natty outfits to whatever is next on the hanger. Occasionally, I’ll take the time to flatten those curling lapels, but for the rest, hey, it’s casual wear, right?

Thank goodness I’m single and not looking, otherwise I’d be in real danger.